This project
started with one idea: Share the answers to the questions I got asked day after
day about fixing earthships so they work better.

Living in
Taos, New Mexico at the epicenter of the earthship phenomenon, we are taken by
these structures every time someone new comes into town to visit, because they
inevitably want to visit them. We have many friends who have lived in them. We
have visited them, interviewed their builders, and even gone to workshops about
them. While we love and celebrate their successes (our favorite is the glass
light walls), we also see... and listen to people bemoan... their flaws.

Our clients
have an extremely high standard for sustainability:

They
do not want to cart questionable building materials long distances in the name
of “recycling” and call it green.

They
want to build locally, build naturally, and build it themselves.

They
want their buildings to be cool in summer, warm in winter, the humidity to be
predictable and regular, and they want to minimize pests and allergens in their
environment.

They
want to be able to get a permit, and insurance, and resell their homes if they
want to, or pass them on to their children if they can.

Oftentimes,
they want to be able to spend the rest of their lives in their home, which
means they want to make their home easy to manage, maintain, and get around in,
even if they are in a walker or wheelchair.

They
want their home to feel like it is made from and relating to the earth: in
views, in light, in fresh air, in the ability to grow their own food, in a
beautiful landscape that supports the function of the home.

In order to
address these concerns, we started case studying earthship builds around the
globe, and right here at home in Taos. We started asking builders what they were finding…we studied earthship
builds in 15 countries + visited 20 sites in the US - visiting every
kind of build we could, from the smallest hand-built tiny house earthship to
one of the largest, most palatial, custom earthships in the world. We read
thousands of pages of commentaries on builds, builders, and systems; digging
ever deeper into the data - what research has been done? If not on this wall
system, what do people know about the materials? What are the pros and cons?
What is the embodied energy? We built surveys and conducted interviews of
owners, builders, and renters to find out what issues they were having and how
they solved them. We started collecting weather data to see what tweaks make
the homes work well in what climates.

Then, we
branched out… digging even deeper into the data… finding scientific research
and data to support both sides of every debate, more interviews … we started
collecting enough data to start to identify patterns in what techniques worked
where and why, in the same way we would if we were trying to see if there was
enough “base data” to justify a larger academic study.

Then, we kept
going, spending more than a year cultivating the list of “people to watch” in
Earthships in particular, and Natural Building in general. We checked out the
websites, blogs, research, forums, and facebook fan pages of the foremost
experts in their fields. Some were professional designers and contractors, and
some were hobbiests who had learned by doing how to get great buildings built.
We paid careful attention to their advice and problem solving abilities, and
then dug into the next level of data… the comments, sometimes hundreds, even
thousands, from invested readers who were sharing their own stories of triumph
over common issues raised. Too hot, too cold, just right, what they did and how
they did it… and we wrote it all down.

We decided that we should release all the data we had
collected, and help explain some of what the most confusing parts said.
Academic research is especially difficult to digest, so we wanted to translate
that into plain English, insomuch as we could. As part of our research process,
we also found quite a few places on the Earthship Biotecture website and
publications that were confusing, and we felt we could help people to
understand what was happening there. So we endeavored to explain the science,
implications, and explanations of what was actually happening in these
buildings. Then, finally, after reading Earthship Volumes 1-3, we realized
that what people really needed was some help deciding what systems worked for
their values. Because, while those books are interesting and certainly helpful
for the water and power systems especially, they really leave a lot to
interpretation in the design portions, and set people up for learning the hard
way how not to build.

What started out as 3 pages on a website a few years back, has now grown into a coalition of
designers, engineers, sustainability experts, and regular people in the know
offering to share their knowledge so that we can try and help make the world a
little bit better place.Those
people changed everything about this book, and made it really great. None of us has made a cent in bringing this to you.
Not one. Because it is not about the money. It is about sharing ideas.

And that is
when it all really came together.

We love how
beautiful the earthships are - the organic forms and the beautiful cascades of
light that come through the glass walls - and we love the idea of living free
and in concert with nature – growing our food, reducing our need for systems,
rising and setting with the sun – these are noble, sustainable, mindful ways to
live.

What follows
is our best effort to collect information and share it with you. It is our goal
to supplement the Earthship books with helpful principles of design that can
help elevate the earthship ideal into its next generation. And hopefully make
the process as painless as possible for would-be builders, along the way.

About 1/4 of
the book is talking about the earthships - how they succeed, where they need
improvement, all the research that is been done by experts around the world,
and how regular people who became experts in the field have mastered the art.
The remaining 3/4 of the book is a primer to help you design your own
home.This is our way of trying to bring
great design to your fingertips.

This book is
not about taking anyone or any idea down. It is about being realistic and
making a plan. It is about making things better and helping your home to shine.

We wanted to
make this book totally open source. But editing and then printing books is not
free. So we have charged a little something to cover those expenses.